AFCON Drama; Knock-Out Episode

AFCON Drama; Knock-Out Episode By Issaclomedia

Last week I wrote about the African Cup of Nations scenarios during the preliminary stage and prior to the tournament itself but just like in the movies lets flashback, Morocco the initial host did not host AFCON 2015 due to fear of Ebola outbreak but they hosted the Club WorldCup without any excuses at lease there were reports of Ebola outbreaks in Europe as well especially Spain, this has just shown how African we can be and how much African Cup of Nations means to us.

Senegal Striker is another major plot in this episode of AFCCON drama,  Diafra Sakho the Senegalese talisman plies his trade with West Ham united United, the EPL side was recently fined 100,000 Swiss Francs ($108,100, €94,600, £71,000) by FIFA after Senegal complained Sakho turned down the national team call-up for the AFCON 2015 tournament in Equatorial Guinea due to back injury but the striker was in action for West Ham United in an FA cup match despite his withdrawal from the Senegalese squad.

The FIFA disciplinary committee found the club and player guilty to have violated the regulations in relation to the match played by Sakho, so both parties have been sanctioned with a reprimand.

This action by Sakho has also shown how much the African cup of Nations means to players, picking club over country, is the continental cup loosing its dignity because it's been held every two years will be an issue for another day.

 

Well back to the tournament, the quarter finals show down began and attention shifted to the match between two giants,  the Ivory Cost versus Algeria, it was a clash of the Titans as expected but Wilfred Bony showed why the English Premiership champions paid so much for his services as he inspired the Elephants into the Semifinals scoring a brace after combining well with Yaya Toure Set-pieces though the North African team had more possession throughout the game but could not manage the attacking force of the Ivorians who defended well at the same time, the game ended three goals to one in favour of the West African team with Gervinho also on the Score sheet. 

 

Democratic Republic of Congo versus Congo in the other quarterfinal could be regarded as the most inspiring game of the tournament, DR. Congo were two goals down but pulled off a great comeback emerging as the match winners in a thrilling goals galore encounter that ended 4-2 in normal time to setup a semifinal fixture against Ivory Coast.

  

The black stars of Ghana steer into the Semifinals with ease after demolishing the lucky Guinea who qualified for the quarterfinals through random draws after finishing the group stage in identical statistics with Mali but their run luck ended against Ghana the game ended 3-0 in favour of Ghana.

The host nation, Equatorial Guinea also had runs of luck and it took them to the semifinals but you can't say anything about the 30th African Cup of Nations without mentioning their quarter final encounter against Tunisia. The host nation were a goal down against carthage Eagles when the referee gave soft penalty to Equatorial Guinea in closing hour of the game, a decision which sparked so many reactions, the Tunisian players contested the decision but the referee had the final say, the Spot kick was well taken and the game later went on to extra time before Equatorial Guinea later eventually emerged as the match winner in the extra time, scoring from a free kick  so it was game over for the North Africans.

After the match a lot of incidents came up including field invasion by fans, even those in the stands were aggressive, invasion of the pitch after final the whistle by players and substitutes of the Tunisian team insulting the referee of the match and trying to physically assault him, the regrettable behaviour of the president of the Tunisian Football Federation Mr Wadie Jary, entering the pitch of play and strongly criticising the referee and CAF.

The Tunisian Federation sent two letters to the disciplinary board of CAF stating an explanation of the Tunisian Federation regarding their actions and the second letter suggested CAF and its officials were questionable and biased against Tunisia in general and that CAF officials and Committee were devoid of sporting ethics.

After all the reactions an extra ordinary meeting was held at the CAF headquarters in Bata, Equatorial Guinea to review the incidents , the outcome of the meeting resulted into some decisions after the referee committee noted the poor performance of the referee during the match. Hence the committee decided to end the mission of Seechum Rajindrapasard the referee that was in charge of the match between Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea as a referee for the Orange AFCON 2015, suspended him for a period of six (6) months for poor performance and to delist him from the CAF "A" Elite Referee panel while the Tunisian Football Federation also pulled out  of the local organising committee they were also sanctioned for their reactions based on Articles 82, 83, 125 and 133 of Disciplinary code of CAF.

 

CAF asked Equatorial Guinea to estimate the cost of repairing the damage caused by Tunisia at the stadium as some doors and other few things were damaged so that CAF can present it to Tunisia to pay,  the African governing body also asked the Tunisians to pay a fine USD 50,000 together with a letter of apology for their insinuations or to present  irrefutable evidence to backup their accusations.

The Tunisian federation refused to apologise after African governing body gave Tunisia a deadline of midnight 5th of February to write a formal letter of apology which has led to the suspension of the Carthage Eagles from the next African cup of nation 2017.

Equatorial Guinea were also fined for field invasion and lack of security measures, a sum of $5,000 must be paid according to the Article 151 paragraph 2 of CAF disciplinary code but most importantly the host advanced to the Semifinal and were to play the Black Stars of Ghana.

 A semifinal which setup a Goliath and David fixture on paper but due to the quarterfinal incidents a lot more was expected from the under dogs, pressure on the Ivorians who knew what DR. Congo are capable of and Ghana playing the host in front of their supporters and the referee under pressure is a lot to deal with.

The Elephants Of Cote d' Ivoire crushed the Leopards of Democratic Republic of Congo, the Elephants show their determination to end their long drought of the AFCON trophy, it took just 20 minutes in the game before captain Yaya Toure broke the deadlock but DR. Congo responded with a well converted spot kick, goals from Gervinho and Konan were enough to help steer the Ivorians into the African cup of nations Final in a 3-1 win over DR. Congo in Bata.

At this stage it was clear Ivory Coast will be playing in the final of the 2015 AFCON but will have to wait for the other encounter between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea. A match which later became a war zone, let me refresh your memory we all saw what happened at the World Cup when the Germans Humiliated the mighty Brazil on their home soil in front of their supporters, the sky dint fall even the 3rd place playoff was another humiliation from the Netherlands, day dint turn night so why will Equatorial Guinea, the lowest ranked team in the tournament go violent after loosing to the Mighty Black stars of Ghana , is it another African mentality?

Before the match, Ghanians were sweating over the fitness of their talisman and captain Asamoah Gyan who was deliberately & brutally challenged in the 3-0 win over Guinea in the quarterfinal by the Guinean shot stopper.

All attentions were diverted to Malabo, Ghana playing without Gyan against the host who has been enjoying the home support from their fans and match officials, the tempo of the game started on a very high level with both teams exchanging tackles. Equatorial Guinea came close but it was Ghana who got the opening goal after Equatorial Guinea goal keeper brought down Appiah who stepped in Gyan's place for the day, A penalty was awarded and Jordan Ayew stepped in and Converted the penalty. 

The Black stars took advantage of their one goal lead when the host left their back line opened in  search of an equaliser, Christian Atsu raced with the ball from his own half before he finally released the pass to Mubarack Wakaso who beats the returning defenders with his ball control before he finally sends the ball into the net to record the 1500 goal of the AFCON. The second half started slowly and the midfield battle began again with a lot of tackles, the referee started issuing yellow cards but the black stars created more scoring chances and finally got another goal, it was captain for the day Andrew Ayew also on the score sheet. 

Minutes after this goal, the fans blew it, they have been throwing bottles during the course of the match but this time it was out of control, with just eight minutes left to end the game, Equatorial Guinea supporter supporters pelted Ghanian fans with plastic bottles and chairs which led to the black stars supporters pouring to the pitch for safety, the match was suspended for over half an hour, the game eventually continued but it was done and dusted as Ghana cruise into orange 2015 AFCON final to set up a repeat of 1992 final against Ivory Coast.

As if the madness inside the stadium wasn't enough, further damages went on outside the stadium in Malabo, the Black stars and their supporters were held inside the stadium for hours before being eventually escorted by security forces to the Airport for the short flight from Island City to Bata.

African football Governing body has fined Equatorial Guinea the sum of $ 100,000 and their fans will be allowed to come into the stadium to watch the 3rd place play off in order to promote the spirit of fair play.

Who said the drama has ended, their is still unfinished businesses Ghana and Ivory Coast battle each other in final to end a drought faced by both team and as for the 3rd place play off if you were a DR. Congo fan will you be going to see the match, I hope we won't see a repeat of overzealousness from the host because this is Africa!